Issues
While Oxfam specializes in helping communities realize individualized solutions to their problems, our work takes on universal themes. From community to community and region to region, we see people facing like challenges—and pursuing like solutions to their needs.
Current issues
Having a safe place to save or access to a small loan can help a family work its way out of poverty. Oxfam America has pioneered a microfinance model called Saving for Change, which self-replicates on a large scale and at a low cost.
A growing portion of Oxfam America's work involves collaboration with new allies, including strategic engagement with the private sector.
Our mission is to do whatever we can to reduce suffering and save lives during emergencies—whether they are caused by conflict or by natural events. We partner with local groups in a network that stretches around the world.
Worldwide, nearly one in seven people now suffers from chronic hunger. Oxfam is working on solutions to ensure that no one, no matter where he or she lives, has to go to sleep hungry.
Oxfam seeks fair government policies and corporate practices in the oil, gas, and mining industries, and supports the right of communities to participate in decisions about the use of natural resources.
Insurance and rural resilience
With financial tools, such as insurance, farmers can improve their well-being.
Farm workers in the US are often subjected to mistreatment and exploitation. Oxfam seeks to expose sweatshop conditions and human rights violations in America's fields.
Seventy percent of those living below the poverty line are women. Oxfam helps women and girls overcome gender discrimination, realize their potential, and become decision-makers and leaders in their communities.
The poorest people often find vital drugs priced out of reach—despite promises from the WTO to make medicines affordable and available to all. Oxfam is asking governments and drug companies to make affordable medicine a reality.
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Feature Story
As food crisis looms, the lean season hits early in northern Senegal
An Oxfam team assesses the conditions around a group of small villages where many of the food reserves are now exhausted.
Feature Story
Counting on the rain to continue--or weather insurance to help cover losses
For Ethiopian farmer Gidey Mehari, when the opportunity to buy weather insurance for his crops arose, he jumped at the chance.
Feature Story
Doubling his weather insurance, this Ethiopian farmer is happy for the security it provides
"Anything can happen," says Alemu Tadesse. And that's why he is investing in weather insurance for some of his crops.
Feature Story
Haiti: a grain milling operation offers an economic lifeline for women
To help tackle unemployment and ensure families have access to food, Oxfam is working with a women's group to modernize and expand a service center.
Feature Story
American-owned Doe Run polluted this small mountain community for more than a decade. Now citizens are joining with Oxfam to hold the company accountable.
Feature Story
Haiti: Reducing the risk of flooding in Artibonite
A local mayor enlists support from Oxfam to address major flooding in his community in rural Haiti.
